False Advertising Complaints Against The "Milk Mustache" Ad Campaign Validated - Brief Article

Healthfacts, Oct, 2001 by Maryann Napoli

A physician group with a long-standing mission to challenge the overselling of milk's health benefits announced that its complaints against the "milk mustache" ad campaign have been largely validated. A newly released government report found no evidence to support the latest claim that drinking milk will enhance sports performance. The ads that convey this idea feature high-profile sports figures like Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark McGwire wearing "milk mustaches."

In response to a petition from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine a federal panel was convened to determine whether there is a scientific consensus regarding the range of benefits attributed to milk, including prevention of osteoporosis. The panel's report, released last month by U.S. Department of Agriculture, supported most of the Physicians Committee complaints. In some cases, the report shows a contradiction between the consensus among experts and the supporting evidence. Here are some of the report's conclusions:

SPORTS PERFORMANCE: "...there are no data to support the belief that milk per se benefits sports performance. It is evident that good nutrition, including adequate protein intake and calcium intake are important in sports performance, but milk is not the only potential source of an adequate supply of these nutrients for athletes."

OSTEOPOROSIS: There is a scientific consensus that calcium, particularly in the form of milk, can reduce the risk of osteoporosis or improve bone integrity. Though osteoporosis has numerous risk factors (e.g., smoking, medications, etc), questions remain about calcium's role. "The unknown etiology [cause] of osteoporosis leads to many definitions of the process and enough ambiguity to recently generate the following conclusion: It is clear ...that there is no simple answer to the question, Who has osteoporosis? Confusion at such a basic level does not aid in assessing the influence of dietary calcium on the disease." As for the more important question of fracture prevention: "There is little debate that low bone mass is an important predictor of fragility fracture, but it is well recognized that there are many non-bone mineral density factors that also influence risk of fracture including changes in bone structure and bone turnover. Decreased bone mass does not always translate into higher hip fracture incidence rates as exemplified by Asian-American women."

COW'S MILK AS THE BEST SOURCE OF CALCIUM: "A recent ... analysis found that the majority of studies designed to examine the relation of dairy food intake to bone health indicate no effect."

ETHNIC DIFFERENCES: Many people who are not of Northern European ancestry are lactose intolerant. The report did not address this important issue.

HARMFUL EFFECTS OF MILK: Population studies suggest a link between milk consumption and two common diseases: prostate cancer and heart disease. However, this is due solely to the high fat content of whole milk.

Now What?

The Physicians Committee's false advertising complaints have been largely supported by this report, but it will take the Federal Trade Commission, which handles misleading ad complaints, some time to act on them. The not for profit Physicians Committee has 100,000 members of which 5,000 are physicians. Its advisory board includes physicians and scientists who conduct nutrition-related research, most notably Dean Ornish, MD, Andrew Weil, MD, Lawrence Kushi, ScD, and T. Colin Campbell, PhD.

For More Information:

For an information packet about the milk mustache controversy, contact the Customer Service Department, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, 5100 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Ste. 400, Washington, DC 20016, (202) 686-2210, ext. 306, or e-mail bleonard@pcrm.org

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Maryann Napoli is the associate director of the Center for Medical Consumers in New York City.